Ayreon

Arjen Lucassen during an autograph session, October 2006

Ayreon is a progressive rock / progressive metal project by the Dutch musician Arjen Lucassen . Usually over a year he records various ideas in the form of chord sequences and melodies on a simple tape recorder. If there is enough material, he hears it through and combines the various elements. He works them out step by step, underlaying them with drum samples and other elements, which are later mostly replaced by hand-played instruments. Even then he determines the order of the songs for the album, because the lyrics should result in an overall concept. Lucassen looks for the right singers, adapts the vocal melodies to their styles and only when the story is the central theme of the album will the lyrics be written.

history

The story of Ayreon can be found on the debut album The Final Experiment . In 2084 the earth is on the verge of destruction by humans, but science has found a way to send messages into the past in the form of dream visions. The technology is to be used to inform people from days gone by about the impending horror. The visions reach Ayreon, a blind minstrel in the Middle Ages. Future humanity now hopes that he can change history.

Ayreon became the name of the entire project. The second album ( Actual Fantasy ) is a collection of independent songs that deal with various themes from fantasy and science fiction . For example, the subject matter and Lucassen's impressions of The Name of the Rose in the song Abbey of Synn are processed. The third album ( Into the Electric Castle ) was a rock opera on two CDs . Different characters from different eras of mankind must face the horror of the Electric Castle together , in which they are faced with a series of difficult trials. This is also where the Forever alien race appears for the first time .

The two albums The Dream Sequencer and Flight of the Migrator from 2000 form a thematic complex and take up the plot of the debut album from a different perspective. They tell the story of a Mars colonist who is the only one to survive the war themed in The Final Experiment and who uses a machine, the Dream Sequencer , to enter different epochs in human history and the universe.

With The Human Equation , Lucassen returned to real time and produced a concept album that tells the story of twenty days in the life of a man who is in a coma after a car accident in the hospital and has an inner conflict with his feelings. Every feeling is personified and, like the voice of the man himself and that of his wife, is sung by various guest singers from well-known bands of the genre. Lucassen himself takes over the voice of the man's friend. At the end of the album, the voice of the Dream Sequencer can be heard again, creating a connection to the previous albums.

"01011001" tells the story of the "Forever", a highly developed extraterrestrial race that lives on planet Y and keeps itself alive with the help of machines. Due to this technological dependence, however, their emotions threaten to atrophy, so that they decide to deposit their DNA on a passing comet by extremophiles , which is on a collision course with the earth. The impact of the comet changes the image of the planet and wipes out the dinosaurs that live there. With the DNA that you brought with you, a new species developed: humans. One group of the "Forever" is not satisfied with what they have achieved and sends their technological knowledge to their descendants on earth. There threatens to spark a final nuclear war in 2084, which could mean the end of the planet. 01011001 tells the story behind The Final Experiment . The binary number "01011001" stands for the hexadecimal number "59" (decimal 89), which represents the letter "Y" in the ASCII character set .

All albums, with the exception of Actual Fantasy , The Theory of Everything and the two compilation albums, form a long narrative thread that is completed by 01011001 .

Among the guest singers who have given their voices on the various albums so far are such well-known names as Sharon den Adel ( Within Temptation ), Mikael Åkerfeldt ( Opeth ), Russell Allen ( Symphony X ), Bob Catley ( Magnum ), Bruce Dickinson ( Iron Maiden ), Johan Edlund ( Tiamat ), Tom Englund ( Evergrey ), Heather Findlay ( Mostly Autumn ), Fish (formerly Marillion ), Anneke van Giersbergen ( The Gathering ), Daniel Gildenlöw ( Pain of Salvation and The Flower Kings ), Floor Jansen ( After Forever , Nightwish ), JB ( Grand Magus ), Tommy Karevik ( Kamelot, Seventh Wonder ), Timo Kotipelto ( Stratovarius ), Hansi Kürsch ( Blind Guardian ), James LaBrie ( Dream Theater ), Jørn Lande ( Masterplan ), Steve Lee ( Gotthard ), Neal Morse (formerly Spock's Beard and Transatlantic ), Tobias Sammet ( Avantasia , Edguy ), Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) , Simone Simons ( Epica ), Devin Townsend , John Wetton , Damian Wilson ( Threshold ) and Phideaux Xavier ( Phideaux ).

Although Lucassen recorded most of the recordings himself as a multi-instrumentalist, he repeatedly brought in prominent musicians to support him with recordings and solos, including Tomas Bodin ( The Flower Kings ), Joost van den Broek ( After Forever ), Ken Hensley , Keith Emerson , Steve Hackett , Lori Linstruth ( Stream of Passion ), Clive Nolan ( Arena ), Erik Norlander, Martin Orford ( IQ ), Michael Romeo , Jordan Rudess , Derek Sherinian , Ed Warby , Oliver Wakeman ( Starcastle ), Rick Wakeman and Gary Wehrkamp ( Shadow Gallery ).

Lucassen uses various elements from entertainment and combines them into a whole. Ayreon combines musical , rock , metal , opera and radio play .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
year	title	NL	DE	AT	CH	Remarks
1998	Into the Electric Castle	NL49 (7 weeks) NL	-	-	-
2000	Universal Migrator Part 1	NL64 (3 weeks) NL	DE87 (1 week) DE	-	-
2000	Universal Migrator Part 2	NL61 (3 weeks) NL	DE90 (1 week) DE	-	-
2004	The Human Equation	NL7 (6 weeks) NL	DE50 (2 weeks) DE	-	-
2008	01011001	NL2 (9 weeks) NL	DE18 (3 weeks) DE	-	CH85 (1 week) CH
2013	The Theory of Everything	NL3 (6 weeks) NL	DE21 (2 weeks) DE	AT37 (1 week) AT	CH41 (1 week) CH
2016	The Theater Equation	NL69 (1 week) NL	DE12 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	Live album
2017	The Source	NL1 (4 weeks) NL	DE10 (4 weeks) DE	AT21 (1 week) AT	CH17 (2 weeks) CH
2018	Universe - Best of Ayreon Live	NL6 (1 week) NL	DE13 (3 weeks) DE	-	CH39 (1 week) CH	Live album
2020	Electric Castle Live and Other Tales	NL1 (... week) NL	DE14 (2 weeks) DE	AT67 (1 week) AT	CH28 (1 week) CH	Live album